Confronting "Carmen" beyond the Pyrenees: Bizet's Opera in Madrid, 1887-1888 Author(s): Elizabeth Kertesz and Michael Christoforidis Source: Cambridge Opera Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Mar., 2008), pp. 79-110 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27720432 Accessed: 02-07-2018 18:22 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Cambridge Opera Journal This content downloaded from 129.105.215.146 on Mon, 02 Jul 2018 18:22:28 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Cambridge Opera Journal, 20, 1, 79-110 ? 2008 Cambridge University Press doi: 10.1017/S0954586708002413 Confronting Carmen beyond the Pyrenees: Bizet's opera in Madrid, 1887-1888 ELIZABETH KERTESZ and MICHAEL CHRISTOFORIDIS Abstract: Bizet's Carmen entered Spain's cultural consciousness when it was first staged in Madrid in the 1887?8 season. A public battle for the performance rights in the autumn of 1887 led to competing productions at major theatres: the first in a new Spanish translation at the Teatro de la Zarzuela, and the second in the fully-sung Italian version at the Teatro Real. This article explores the Spanish encounter with Carmen during this season, from the political machinations of the lawsuit, to the opening nights and the extended critical debates that greeted the two premi?res. The Spanish adaptation is compared with the original French version and mapped against the native musico-theatrical tradition of the zarzuela, which had long purveyed constructions of 'Spanishness' for local consumption. Contemporary debates about national identity and its theatrical and musical representations underscore the varied critical responses to Carmen, which was embraced by Madrid opera audiences. Romantic stereotypes of Spain lie at the very heart of Bizet's Carmen, and arguably form a cornerstone of its success.1 But how was this image of Spain reconciled with questions of Hispanic identity when Carmer?s Madrid debut (and subsequent succ?s de scandale) made it a topic for public debate in the Spanish capital? Carmen sparked controversy, drew enthusiastic audiences, and inspired critical engagement with issues of exoticism and theatrical genre. The causes of this baptism of fire lie in the very specific context of late 1880s Madrid and the perspective provided by two competing productions: one in the vernacular lyric tradition of the zarzuela, the other at Madrid's home of foreign opera, the Teatro Real. Carmen connected immediately into a rich web of associations ? many of them from the world beyond the theatre ? which shaped its reception, and coloured the debates about its cultural authenticity. The elements of Spanish local colour that permeate the scenic, literary and musical dimensions of the opera provided a clear focus for critical debate, and The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from The University of Melbourne and the Australian Research Council for the research and preparation of this article. We also thank Yolanda Acker, Ruth Piquer, Mar?a Palacios, and Lesley Wright for their assistance in providing sources for this article. 1 Much has been written about Bizet's direct borrowings from Spanish musical sources, illuminating the opera's genesis, the composer's creative process and his desire to reform the op?ra-comique genre. Mina Curtiss cites studies from the first half of the twentieth century in her Bi^et and his World (New York, 1958), 402 n5; more recent examples include Ralph P. Locke, 'Nineteenth-century Music: Quantity, Quality, Qualities', Nineteenth-Century Music Review, 1 (2004), 30?7; Susan McClary, Georges Bi^et: 'Carmen' (Cambridge, 1992), 44?61; Faustino Nunez, 'La m?sica espa?ola y lo espa?ol en Carmen', Carmen, Teatro Real programme (Madrid, [1999]), 140?51. On the other hand, relatively little has been written about Carmen in Spain. Jos? Subir?'s early history of the Teatro Real includes a brief consideration of Carmer?s eventful first season in Madrid, featuring fascinating anecdotes, but more recently only literary scholar Jean Sentaurens has tackled this rich subject in detail; Jos? Subir?, Historia y anecdotario del Teatro Real (Madrid, 1997), 392?6; Jean Sentaurens, 'Carmen'. de la novela de 1845 a la zarzuela de 1887. C?mo naci? "la Espa?a de M?rim?e" ', Bulletin Hispanique, [104] (2002), 851-72. This content downloaded from 129.105.215.146 on Mon, 02 Jul 2018 18:22:28 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 80 Elizabeth Kertesz and Michael Christoforidis the reviews reflect a peculiarly local and contemporary understanding of theatrical representation of Spanish culture. Carmen's presence in Madrid created a stark juxtaposition between its French representation of Spain and the conventions of costumbrismo, Spanish artistic constructions of local customs, popular in literature, zarzuela and the visual arts. Madrid critics contrasted the op?ra comique's evocations of local colour with the portrayals of Spain familiar to them from the zarzuela stage. This early Spanish encounter with Carmen provides a unique case study of the nineteenth-century reception of a recognised masterpiece of European exoticism from the perspective of the exoticised culture, which was itself struggling to define national identity. Carmen's largely unnoticed Spanish premi?re actually took place at the Teatro L?rico in Barcelona on 2 August 1881. It received a handful of performances at the very end of a season starring C?lestine Galli-Mari?, who had created the title role in Paris in 1875.2 Barcelona's critics seemed quite unfamiliar with the opera itself, despite its success across Europe. The critical reception foreshadowed the main themes that would emerge in Madrid in response to the premi?res of the 1887?8 season, but the question of the work's Spanishness was less hotly debated in the Catalan capital, perhaps because, as Catalans, Barcelona critics and audiences felt they were exempt from Bizet's stereotyping of Spanish customs.3 Although the production was under-prepared, both Bizet's music and Galli Mari?'s performance were much admired, and the singer was complimented on her characteristic and dramatic execution of a role difficult for an artist who had not been born in Spain (El Correo Catalan, 5 August 1881, 1; Diario de Barcelona, 5 August 1881).4 Galli-Mari? declared herself pleased with the Catalan reception, writing to Bizet's widow that 'we have had another great success, this time in Carmen's own country'.5 Despite this, the 1881 premi?re hardly created a ripple in the national consciousness, and no Madrid commentator betrayed any memory of it in 1887. Before a note of Carmen was sung in the Spanish capital, a sensational dispute over the Spanish performance rights set the scene for the opera's dramatic debut. By 1887 both the Teatro de la Zarzuela and the Teatro Real were eager to present Galli-Mari? was a great success in the Catalan capital, where she starred in four operas, but Carmen seems to have been given four performances almost as an afterthought, perhaps at her insistence; see El Correo Catalan, 1 August 1881, 2. 3 This is intimated by Jos? Rodoreda (1851-1922), for example, who suggested that the Catalan audience's awareness that their region was 'rich, industrious, honourable . and peaceful' helped them to tolerate Carmens libretto with good grace. He also praised the effective local colour in the Chanson Boh?me of Act II and the Entr'acte to Act IV, and noted the great success of the Habanera; see Jos? Rodoreda, 'La Carmen, de Bizet', La Ilustrado Catalana, 2/40 (1881), 326. Carmen took off in Barcelona in the late 1880s and early 1890s, as competing productions achieved popular success. The Barcelona Carmen 'phenomenon' is the subject of a chapter in our forthcoming book Carmen: Culturual Authenticity and The Shaping of a Global Icon (Oxford University Press). References to reviews and reports in the daily press are indicated in the main text by newspaper title, date of publication and, when available, the page on which the review or report appears. 5 Cited in Curtiss, Bi^et, 430. This content downloaded from 129.105.215.146 on Mon, 02 Jul 2018 18:22:28 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Confronting Carmen beyond the Pyrenees 81 Carmen to a Madrid public that had already heard so much about its European success, and with whom operas based on Spanish themes, from Rossini to Verdi, had been popular. Ultimately permissions were granted, and the opera was staged in Spanish with spoken dialogue at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in November 1887, and in Italian with sung recitatives at the Teatro Real in March 1888. The two competing productions attracted national press coverage and marked Carmer?s entry into Spanish cultural debates. Carmen's progress through its first season in Madrid must be viewed in the unique theatrical context that shaped its reception there. This set the scene for the copyright dispute and the dramatic events surrounding the premi?re at the Teatro de la Zarzuela. The lively critical responses to this Spanish-language production are then analysed in the light of current local events and in comparison with the native genre of the zarzuela. Constructions of Spanishness emerge as a key issue in the examination of Rafael Maria Liern's Spanish translation and adaptation, which leads into a discussion of local perceptions of the score's Hispanic credentials.